What If?
by JacenLukeSolo
Summary: What if Clay went over to Tony's when Tony received the tapes and went to listen to them? Could they save Hannah in time? A Clay/Hannah story.
1. Chapter 1

Clay walks in to Tony's house with a box in hand. "Tony you have a package." "Yeah I know Hannah dropped it off. I have no idea what's in it, or why she gave it to me though." "Can I open it?" "Sure Clay." Clay grabbed the knife on the counter and opened the box filled with cassette tapes. There was a note on top, but Clay was fascinated by the cassette tapes. Clay put Tape 1 into the speaker system and turned it on.

"Hey, it's Hannah. Hannah Baker. That's right. Don't adjust your...whatever device you're hearing this on. It's me, live and in stereo. No return engagements, no encore, and this time, absolutely no requests. Get a snack. Settle in. Because I'm about to tell you the story of my life. More specifically, why my life ended. And if you're listening to this tape you're one of the reasons why. I'm not saying which tape brings you into the story. But fear not, if you received this lovely little box, your name will pop up. I promise."

Tony had jumped from the couch, grabbed his keys, and immediately headed out the door. Clay was halfway down the driveway already, frantically dialing Hannah's cell while running. Tony yelled "get in" and Clay turned around and jumped into the car. They were at the Bakers in no time, with Clay still getting voicemail on Hannah's cell. Her mother answered the banging on the door, and Clay ran right past her. He almost fell in the hallway outside Hannah's room thanks to the water leaking from the bathroom. Clay opened the door to the bathroom, with Hannah's mom right behind him. When he saw her bleeding into the bath his feet collapsed underneath him. At this point her mother grabbed her and Tony walked in. Seeing the scene in front of him he reached for his cell and dialed 911.

Her mother had taken her out of the tub and laid her on the wet ground. The water continued to flow, but no one cared. At some point Clay reached and held Hannah's hand while continuously whispering no. The wait for the ambulance seemed to take an eternity. When the EMTs arrived, they made quick work of getting Hannah on a stretcher and into the ambulance. Clay continued to hold her hand, only letting go when they reached the narrow staircase. As soon as they were out the door Clay had Hannah's hand back in his. As they loaded Hannah into the ambulance he went right with Hannah, cutting Hannah's mom off. Hannah's mom followed and then the ambulance closed its doors and headed for the hospital.

The monitor the EMT attached to Hannah continued to show faint signs of life, and Clay hung on every heartbeat. His hands were now in his pockets, as the EMTs had to work on Hannah. When they got to the hospital there were doctors and nurses already in surgical gear to receive Hannah. Clay was able to get the words "Don't Leave Me" out before they took her. That was when Clay blacked out.

Clay awoke in the E.R. about an hour later. He had no idea where he was, and he had a terrible feeling in the pit of his stomach. Tony who was sitting at his bedside had motioned for a nurse to come over. "Clay relax". Clay looked at Tony questioningly but Tony just allowed the nurses to do their jobs. Once they checked him over and told Clay that the doctor would stop by soon, Tony thanked them and came to the head of the bed. "Your mom is on her way." "What happened?" Clay's voice sounded weak which surprised both the boys. "You just blacked out." "So you brought me to the hospital?" "No Clay we were already at the hospital." "Why wou…" Clay never finished his sentence, as the memories of finding the tapes and then Hannah on death's door came rushing through his mind. Clay rushed to his feet startling Tony and the nurse standing nearby. Tony grabbed Clay worried that he would black out again, while the nurse came over. "Get back into bed Mr. Jensen. The doctor hasn't cleared you yet, and you can't leave here until your mother signs you out." At this point Tony was trying to force Clay back into bed, while Clay was trying to get out of bed. The nurse was calling for security at the same time Clay's mom walked in.

"Clay what is going on?" his mom said while approaching the scene. "I need to see her. I need to see Hannah. I need to know if she is ok." "First you're going to tell me what is going on. I get a call that you are in the ER of the hospital and to come quickly. Clay what the hell happened?" By this time security had gotten to Clay's bed. Clay thought about trying to make a run for it, but between the security guards and not knowing where Hannah is he decided to explain things to his mother. He stopped fighting with Tony, who had somehow managed by himself to get him back into the hospital bed, and began explaining what brought them to the hospital. Right as he was finishing the doctor came in.

"Let's see Clay Jensen collapsed in the ambulance entryway while bringing another patient in." "How is Hannah doing?" Clay interrupted. "Right now I'm only concerned with you, I have no idea what is going on with Hannah, so let's start with me listening to your chest." The doctor started his physical examination, while Clay distractedly complied with the doctor's orders and answered his questions while looking for signs of Hannah through his very limited vision of the rest of the ER. "Okay looks like it was just your body's way of reacting to the trauma you experienced when you found Hannah. We have to wait for the bloodwork to come back, and I want to keep you overnight for monitoring, but I think the emotional trauma is what most likely caused this. I also want to order a psych consult." "No" Clay screamed which took both the doctor and his mother aback." "Clay you have been through a traumatic experience, I highly recommend you talk to someone." "You're going to do exactly as the doctor says Clay." His mother says in her best authoritarian voice. "Hannah didn't have anyone to help her when she needed it." Clay mutters under his breath. The doctor left soon thereafter, completing his orders in the hospital's computer system.

Clay turned to Tony, who had come back in after the doctor was finished. "Did you see how Hannah was doing?" Tony nodded "she's still in surgery, her dad told me." Clay seemed to take it as a good sign. "Mom can I talk to Tony in private for a minute." "Clay I don't think that is a good idea." "Mom I'm just asking for a minute. "Fine Clay, a minute." Clay motioned for Tony to come closer, until Tony was practically on top of him. "Go and get me Hannah's tapes." "I'm not sure that is a good idea Clay." "I don't care, I need to know and I'm stuck here anyways. Make a copy first, I don't want anything to happen to them just in case someone sees, and Tony bring me a portable cassette player with headphones."

A few hours later Clay was wide awake, while his mother had fallen asleep on the chair next to his hospital bed. Tony wasn't back yet, and Clay had no updates on Hannah. For all he knew she could have died on the operating room table. This was unacceptable to him, and with his mom out for the count, he could finally go and find her. After he got information from the nurse's desk he made his way to the second floor where Surgery and Intensive Care were. He asked the nurse at the main desk upstairs and she pointed him to a room in Intensive Care. The doctors had just rolled her in to the room, Hannah's parents rushing in to see her. Clay stood right outside the door, as the nurses and orderlies finished setting her up. He saw her chest rising and falling, and he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. Then he looked at her face, which was pale, but was starting to return to its normal color. The pressure on his chest seemed to recede. Hannah was alive.


	2. Chapter 2

Outside of Hannah's room stood Clay frozen to the spot. He could see Hannah's parents talking with one of the doctors, Hannah's mom looking upset, while Hannah's dad just seemed shocked. Clay turned back to Hannah and became fascinated by the rise and fall of her chest, along with the heart rate machine next to her bed. The doctor met with Hannah's parents for a few more minutes, then left to do his rounds. Hannah's mom sat down next to Hannah and placed her hand over Hannah. Hannah's dad retreated to the chair across the room after placing a kiss on her forehead. Clay just stayed glued to his spot, he didn't want to intrude, and frankly he was somewhat afraid of Hannah's parents.

"Are you ever going to come in Clay?" Hannah's mom asked after some time had passed. Hannah's mom didn't even turn around to face Clay in the hallway, and spoke loudly so Clay could hear her. Clay slowly made his way into the room, Hannah's dad briefly giving him a glance as he sat down on the couch behind Hannah's mom. They sat like that for the next hour, Clay watching Hannah's chest rise and fall as if he was timing his own breathing to hers. Hannah's mom kept rubbing circles on Hannah's hands, occasionally whispering encouragements to the sleeping girl.

That went on for a while until two police officers came in. Clay was confused as to why they would be here, for a minute thinking his mom called the cops on him, since he snuck out of the ER. Clay listened as the cops asked to speak to Mr. Baker outside, sure they were going to tell him that he escaped from the ER. Mr. Baker left with them and didn't come back for a long time. When he did he stayed outside the room, pacing and muttering to himself. Clay felt this was weird, but then both cops came back into the room and asked to speak to Mrs. Baker outside. Mrs. Baker was having none of it, and said she wasn't leaving her daughter ever again. The police started to object, but then Clay offered to leave the room. Mrs. Baker wasn't having any of that either, telling Clay to stay put. The officers were stuck between a rock and a hard place, and decided to just ask their questions right in Hannah's room.

"Mrs. Baker the doctors believe the cuts on your daughter's wrists were self-inflicted, but we need to ask, did you do this to your daughter?" "Absolutely not!" "Did you ever physically harm your daughter?" "No!" "What about your husband, did you ever see him abuse your daughter?" "My husband adored Hannah, he would never lay a hand on her!" "Do you have any idea why Hannah would try to kill herself?" Mrs. Baker looked down at the floor looking completely lost. "No I don't. I wish I knew something was bothering her, I would have helped her. She just seemed like a normal teenager." "Mrs. Baker earlier you said your husband adored Hannah, might it have been an inappropriate adoration?" Both Mrs. Baker and Clay looked at the cop totally confused. "Did Mr. Baker or anyone else for that matter ever (the cop turned towards Clay) ever make any inappropriate advances towards Hannah?" "Absolutely not!" screamed Mrs. Baker. "My husband is a good man, and Clay here saved Hannah's life. I'm done with your questions."

"Mrs. Baker unfortunately this doesn't end here. While I have no reason to doubt what you say we have already referred this case to child services. Your daughter tried to kill herself, and we need to make sure she is safe." Child services came into the room at that moment. "Mrs. Baker for right now your child is a ward of the state, until we figure this out we will be making all decisions regarding your daughter." "We have to do our own physical, Dr. Topes here is from our office. We need the two of you to leave the room while she conducts the exam." Clay grabbed on to Hannah, but Hannah's mom got up and left. All the color was drained from her face. She was like a walking zombie.

Clay left a few moments after, giving Hannah a hug and kissing her hand before he left. The doctor pulled the curtain and started the exam. The doctor came out a few minutes later and went to talk with the person from child services. Clay could tell the Doctor was concerned about something, and so could Hannah's dad. Hannah's dad went to step in to find out what the matter is, but he was stopped by one of the officers. "What's going on?" "Right now Mr. Baker that is none of your business, as we said Hannah is now the responsibility of the state." Hannah's mom who was staring like a ghost dropped to the floor, and Hannah's dad ran to her. Clay was focused on the doctor who was having the child services worker sign something. Clay did not have a good feeling.

The doctor went back in to Hannah's room, pulling on exam gloves again. The doctor came back out about a half hour later, clearly agitated with a box in her hand. She talked with child services, showing her items in the box, including a camera. Child services called the police officers over to them. Clay started to clench his hands into fists, he could tell something was really wrong. Hannah's dad was still crouched over Mrs. Baker, trying to get through to her. A few minutes later the two officers walked over to Mr. Baker. "Mr. Baker we need you to come with us?" "Yeah well right now I'm trying to take care of my wife, since you took our daughter away from us!" "Mr. Baker there has been a development and we need to talk to you." At the word development Clay's full attention was now on the officers. He started to get his hopes up, maybe she had woken up.

"Mr. Baker we believe Hannah was raped." The color drained from Mr. Baker's face and he acquiesced. Mrs. Baker was now racked in sobs. Clay kept repeating the word raped over and over in his head. Out of nowhere Clay suddenly turned and punched the wall next to him. Pure raw anger was surging through him now that his brain had a moment to comprehend what the officer had said. The doctor who had just examined Hannah now came over to him. His fist and wrist were bleeding where his arm had gone through the plaster. The doctor walked him into Hannah's room and sat him down on the other bed. One of the child service workers came into the room stating that he was not sure Clay should be in the room, but the doctor put her hand up and the child service worker shut up. Clay barely responded to the doctor but did as he was told, while the doctor patched him up.

The doctor was just about finished when she asked him to open his mouth. Clay felt that this was weird, but did as the doctor said. The doctor took some medical instrument, swabbed his cheek, and then put it in a jar. The doctor told him to stay where he was while she went to check on a few things. It wasn't until he saw the doctor give the jar to the police officer that he knew what the doctor had done. She wanted to test his DNA to see if he was the rapist. He immediately felt queasy and turned to throw up in the trash next to the bed when he came face to face with his irate mother.

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AN: Sorry guys for this taking so long, but I am more of a reader then a writer. Also things have been crazy busy.


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